The GOP's Fox Problem

By Eric Boehlert, Media Matters for America

25 November 12

oor Mitt Romney has become a Republican punching bag as leaders within the party denounce his post-election comments about how President Obama won re-election by promising government-funded "gifts" to minority groups and young voters. As Republicans jab Romney though, they're missing the larger, more pressing point: They don't have a Mitt Romney problem. They have a Fox News problem.

Romney's "gifts" put-down echoed the infamous claim Romney made during the campaign that 47 percent of Americans see themselves as "victims" and are overly dependent on the government. With the campaign concluded, lots of fellow Republicans now feel free to bash Romney:

Though prominent conservatives are now lashing out at the former presidential candidate, the truth is Fox News has loudly championed the divisive philosophy behind Romney's "47 percent" and "gifts" comments for months and practically authored them for the Republican candidate. Last week Fox talkers cheered Romney's "gifts" post-election critique, treating it as a universal truth. (According to Fox Business host Stuart Varney, Obama was "buying votes with taxpayer money. Handouts all over the place.")

And it's not just a Fox News problem. Republicans have an even more expansive right-wing media problem (television, radio, Internet, etc.), which now doubles as the face and voice of the GOP and which celebrates the kind of toxic "47 percent" and "gifts" rhetoric that's being condemned within the party. The far-right press is convinced Obama won re-election by "offering" voters a "check" in exchange for their support.

Fox host Bill O'Reilly said that voters feel economic anxiety and just "want stuff," while Fox host Eric Bolling said Obama is a "maker versus taker guy." Fox contributor Monica Crowley said that the election showed that "more people now are dependent on government than not." Rush Limbaugh compared the president to Santa Claus, saying that "small things beat big things" in the election and "people are not going to vote against Santa Claus."

In fact, O'Reilly and Limbaugh rushed to take credit for Romney's "gifts" comments last week, since both of them had been pushing the "maker vs. taker" narrative in the wake of Romney's election loss.

The split over Romney's "gifts" remark highlights the larger divide within the conservative movement between two distinct camps: activists and politicians who want to get more Republicans elected vs. right-wing media players who want to grow their audience.

Note that after the Republican flop on Election Day, talk radio's Laura Ingraham dismissed conservative hand-wringers who worried about the political future by stressing that "talk radio continues to thrive while moderate Republicans like John McCain and to some extent Mitt Romney continue to lose presidential elections." That's how hosts like Ingraham view the political landscape. That's how they determine success and failure, not by tallying the wins and losses posted by Republicans candidates, but by counting up the number of radio stations that carry their syndicated show.

The same is true with Daily Caller editor Tucker Carlson. Asked why the conservative media completely failed in their attempt to "vet" Obama, who easily won re-election despite four years of hysterical, far-right claims about him, Carlson told BuzzFeed his publication's work had been a success because traffic to the site was up. (Carlson also blamed the "legacy media" for being hostile to his site's supposed "journalism.")

I'm sure that's comforting news to RNC leadership. And I'm sure the Daily Caller chasing inane, anti-Obama conspiracy theories for the next four years will put the Republican Party on firm footing for 2016.

For now, it's easy to blame Romney. That's what losing parties often do after an election, they pile-on the vanquished candidate. The part that would take some guts and fortitude would be calling out the right-wing media that are generating the type of hate rhetoric that Romney embraced and routinely used during the campaign.

Republicans won't because they're intimidated by the right-wing media's power. That's why New Jersey Governor Chris Christie quickly got on the phone with Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch after Murdoch tweeted that Christie, in the wake of Hurricane Sandy and his bipartisan appearances with Obama, needed to re-endorse Romney or "take the blame" for the president's re-election.

Murdoch: Jump! Republicans: How high?

That unhealthy relationship is the reason why, when it comes to the simple question of whether America is divided between "makers and takers," and if the 62 million Americans who voted for Obama represent a decaying nation of moochers in search of handouts, there's a wide gulf within the conservative movement. The right-wing media consider the claim to be a central tenet, while Republican leaders think saying it out loud is completely batty and a prescription for an electoral losing streak.

So yes, those are conspicuous handcuffs the GOP is wearing: Fox News has hijacked the party's communications apparatus and is pushing the type of paranoid, blame-the-voter rhetoric that loses elections, and the type of rhetoric Romney's now being blamed for. But the GOP can't turn it off. In fact, most Republicans can't even work up enough courage to ask Fox News to turn down the volume.

Unwilling to acknowledge the GOP's future poses a long-term media problem (the topic is not to be discussed), Republicans pretend they have a short-term Romney one.

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I'm always amazed at the media take on things. "Fox News has hijacked the party's communications apparatus...." They have just noticed this? How is it that the people in the know took so long to figure this out? As far as I'm concerned, the Fox News problem is a gift to Democrats and those who have begun to wake up from the Far Right fog they've been caught in for so many years. As for the GOP's future, there's one thing I was forced to learn at a very young age; nearly everyone hates to face up to the truth, not my family, not any one. Most people love to live in denial; to admit a mistake is to lose face. And what is face but pride? I learned it's harder at first to admit a mistake and feel a bit foolish than to go into neverending denial and never solve the problem. Suits me. Go ahead GOP, run away from your problems. The country now sees your foolishness and is ready for a Congress that gets things done. Stick with Fox News, Grover Norquist and the sure knowledge that you have what the country wants. Leave the Dems free to govern with sense and compassion; those are traits Reps. haven't possessed since before Reagan.

While I love your take on things and wish it were so, the Democrats are no white knights in shining armor. To the contrary, the vast majority of those Democrats in the Congress are on the corporate take through the lobbyists and will pervert and corrupt any bill to the best interests of the ultra rich as long as we go back to our SportsTV and beer.Yes, we made a big effort to get them in, then we think the job is done and go home. WRONG! The minute we are gone from the halls of Congress, the THOUSANDS of paid former politicians (Chris Dodd and Dick Gebhardt, etc.,) move in to take the teeth from any bill that will do us any good. The Congress is only the tip of the ice berg. The real problem is the money in Mordor (DC). Until we get the money out (Citizens United) and put up a firewall (Glass-Steagall; which BILL CLINTON dismantled,) We the People are vulnerable to the same-old-same-old. Getting a change from the Old Guard is only step one. Now, on to step two; get the money out!... and don't forget to Occupy along the way!!!

If I remember right, the Financial Services Modernization Act which repealed Glass-Steagall was laid on Clinton's desk with enough votes to override any possible veto... (not that he intended to do so).

The FSMA was also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in honor of Senator Phil Gramm (R-TX) whose wife Wendy was the bill's architect. See Robert Scheer's "The Great American Stick-up: How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats Enriched Wall Street While Mugging Main Street".

I agree wholeheartedly with your opinion of the Dems. Money has corrupted our govt. at all levels. But our system of govt. has one big weakness; namely that those who created it, made it deliberately cumbersome to change anything. That's why I always default to the Dems as hopefully, a short term way to solve problems. They surely can't do worse than the Reps. Longterm, your ideas are right on point. There is so much that need to change, including encouraging people who truly want to improve the country rather than to enjoy all the perks of power, to run for office. That sounds naive but we have been blessed with many great and gifted men in our history. Keep on talking, WestWinds.

I'm always amazed at the media take on things. "Fox News has hijacked the party's communications apparatus...." They have just noticed this? How is it that the people in the know took so long to figure this out? As far as I'm concerned, the Fox News problem is a gift to Democrats and those who have begun to wake up from the Far Right fog they've been caught in for so many years. As for the GOP's future, there's one thing I was forced to learn at a very young age; nearly everyone hates to face up to the truth, not my family, not any one. Most people love to live in denial; to admit a mistake is to lose face. And what is face but pride? I learned it's harder at first to admit a mistake and feel a bit foolish than to go into neverending denial and never solve the problem. Suits me. Go ahead GOP, run away from your problems. The country now sees your foolishness and is ready for a Congress that gets things done. Stick with Fox News, Grover Norquist and the sure knowledge that you have what the country wants. Leave the Dems free to govern with sense and compassion; those are traits Reps. haven't possessed since before Reagan.

THE FCC has called this news conference to announce the revocation of NewsCorp's license, and the FOX NEWS is OFF THE AIR!!! It's nice to dream, at least.

The FCC should have revoked several licenses years ago, but they wouldn't, and why not, it's a Cabinet-run group...

I am against both the Electoral College and the Senate rules, because both favor conservatives. Senate rules of 60 votes for confirmations means that we will only ever get centrists or right-wing Cabinet, even if we had elected a Dennis Kucinich as President. The conservative states have a much smaller population on average (except Texas and Florida) than the rest of the country, but no matter the size of the population, every state gets 2 Senators (and at least 3 in the Electoral College). This assures that even if there is a slim majority of Democrats in the Senate, the confirmation of liberal Cabinet and also appointments to Justices on the Supreme Court can and do get blocked by those conservatives.

Now the Republicans have found the gerrymander trick: Ohio and Pennsylvania both have Congressional maps that look like intertwined squiggles; almost no Democrat Congressional Representatives despite the fact that Pres. Obama won in both states, and both states are Democrat leaning. The Repubs again play with numbers: they put heavy Democrats together in one district so that 90 percent in that district vote for one Democrat, and the other districts are more spread out giving Repubs all the other seats.

America is so fed up that despite these facts, the Senate has added Democrats, and the House has fewer Republicans than it did.

I'm always amazed at the media take on things. "Fox News has hijacked the party's communications apparatus...." They have just noticed this? . . . The country now sees your foolishness and is ready for a Congress that gets things done. Stick with Fox News, Grover Norquist and the sure knowledge that you have what the country wants. Leave the Dems free to govern with sense and compassion; those are traits Reps. haven't possessed since before Reagan.

I tend to agree, tsw, that the country may be finally waking up to what drivel FAUX news has been spouting all these years. They've been growing like an extremely malignant cancer on the consciousness of America for a long time, but maybe, HOPEFULLY, the cure (public awareness of their unmitigated lies and manipulation) has begun. And let's also hope that cure extends to their appendages like Limp-balls (thanks to reiverpacific for that one!) et al.

All solid points. The GOP problem is that FOX really does represent them. That huge audience they have are the solid 33% or so, rabid right fools, that would vote for GWB all over again. They were there for McCain and they were there for Mitt. And they will be there for FOX, Rush and O'Reilly until they all die. Fortunately, we're talking about a dying faction in America. These truly are the 60+ year old, white males and a small percentage of their offspring in the South, that will try to carry the torch of ignorance and racism into future generations; But they are now, and will continue to lose that battle.

If the GOP could shed the hard right's attitudes and beliefs they would no longer be anything but a watered down "me too" to Democrats. The Dems have moved so far to the right, there isn't any "right" to represent, unless it's the "rabid right".

I watched McCain morph from a reasonable centrist to a rabid right buffoon and we saw it with Romney. The GOP is finished; It's as simple as that. Now all that's left is to push them aside and begin to govern like adults.

Many of us thought the GOP was dead after Nixon. Zombie-like it shambles on. I’m not about to count them out now; the stupid and greedy demographics remain strong. And quite trying to scapegoat the South; remember that big swath of red in most of the nation’s interior. All 50 states now have secession movements: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/secession-movement-sweeps-all-50-states/

Part of the "red swath" in the interior comes down to campaigning: people need to reach out to the rural areas affected by extreme drought, and also reach out to the churches. When Jim Wallis (liberal Christian) wrote an article about helping the poor, many on RSN just jumped on it instead of encouraging Christians to move toward the left with people like Wallis. I'm not for the "blue dog" Democrats, but the rural areas do need outreach. Pres. Kennedy managed to do it by buying their grain and sending to to poor areas; think about it, Sen. George McGovern came from South Dakota. Since the time of Kennedy, things haven't been quite as good for that "red swath."

With or without political reasons though, that area of the country needs help very soon, or the dustbowl will become so extreme that we will have another Sahara instead of the Great Plains, and forget about food for the billions of people around the world too.

My dad, being the "independent, rugged individualist" he is, keeps ignoring how much other people did or created that helped him become successful.

He was a very successful radio and TV repaiman before planned obsolescence gutted the industry. He didn't make any of the TVs and radios he sold, nor did he make any of the parts that factory workers used to build them, nor did he build any of the roads that brought the parts to the factory, nor did ne build any of the machines that people used to build the roads, and so on.

He just sold and repaired the TV sets. He sat at the top of a large pyramid built on other people's labor and sweat and sacrifice, telling himself how independent he was.

At best, he was interdependent, as is everyone. Where would Rush Limp be without all the radio components that built his studio, or the power lines that run power to his studio? Rush is not a maker, he is a taker. Like my dad, he ignores that part of reality.

i think that's called delusional thinking. Anyone who ignores or denies everyone's input in to our very survival is blind or delusional. Or, as Paul Simon put it in "The Boxer," "a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest."

"....And quite trying to scapegoat the South; remember that big swath of red in most of the nation’s interior. All 50 states now have secession movements: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/secession-movement-sweeps-all-50-states/..."

Yes; It's a fair point to make and I might even feel compelled to apologize for making such a broad statement. The statistics showed something like 84% to 89% of voter in Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas etc, voted against Obama. It's the Representatives from the Southern states that are all GOP and never inclined to vote across party lines. And it was in Tennessee that I personally encountered overt racism in a young person as late as 1998.

But you're right; Even 20% is a lot of people and to paint everyone with the same brush is like painting all of California as "the land of fruits and nuts". Sound familiar?

I'll take your criticism and try to practice more of what I preach :-)

As for the GOP; The surest way to ensure their survival is for Progressives to become "TeaParty-Like" and drive the people in the middle, AWAY from the Democrat brand. As you point out; This is a divided country still. If the policies prove to be good ones, then people may trust Democrats longer than they trusted Republicans but there's no guarantee.

what drivel- the republicans are the defenders of the greatest raid on the public treasury in our history- welfare for billionaires who of course are their contributors- initiate public financing of elections and see how many republican members of congress love the contributors- i suspect their influences would fade quickly

I see little hope that the GOP can change. Too many people line up so that Fox "News" et al. can confirm their worst fears and biases. Any other information that finds its way to them is dismissed as "liberal media." Any Republican who tries to transcend the Fox consciousness and take an original stand is immediately eviscerated. I don't see how a Christie or a Jindal rise above the conservative zeitgeist.

Why should Christie or Jindal "rise above the conservative Zeitgeist"? They're the same batty conspiracy nuts they were three months and three years ago. Christie says thanks to the hated President because Obama's doing what he waa elected to do, and all of a sudden Christie is normal? or Jindal?

Thanks, Eric. Now if only the hoodwinked citizenry that watches Fox Noise were to learn something from this election. Nothing good can come from frothing at the mouth, and hate has no place in political discourse. I recall when W was elected; I knew he'd be an idiot, I had no idea how destructive, but I never hated him, I hated the results of his 'administration'.

Articles like this serve to point out the jealousy those in the left wing media have for FNC. FNC, has many libs on it's payroll, where as the Left media does not. Also, while I don't agree with Farrakhan very often, he's right on the money when it comes to the media'ss poor performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EKrXFcVyXE&feature=share

What a load of crap. Liberals on Fox are intentionally unattractive and poorly-prepared punching bags, paid to be insulted and brow-beaten by neanderthals like O'Reilly and Hannity. Their job is to take the dive, day after tortured day. On the other hand -- and this is proof you don't know what you're talking about -- the dreaded liberal MSNBC offers intelligent commentary by a range of liberal and conservative voices, including three hours every morning led by a bona fide conservative, moderate Joe Scarborough.

Articles like this serve to point out the jealousy those in the left wing media have for FNC. FNC, has many libs on it's payroll, where as the Left media does not. Also, while I don't agree with Farrakhan very often, he's right on the money when it comes to the media'ss poor performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EKrXFcVyXE&feature=share

Are you kidding? The liberal media is jealous? Please do your part to eradicate nonsensical comments from serious discussions.

Articles like this serve to point out the jealousy those in the left wing media have for FNC. FNC, has many libs on it's payroll, where as the Left media does not. Also, while I don't agree with Farrakhan very often, he's right on the money when it comes to the media'ss poor performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EKrXFcVyXE&feature=share

"Jealousy"???!!! "Eahh ---what's up Doc" (Bugs Bunny voice)?Thou kiddetht methinkth, gadthookth, oddthbodkinth and e'fackinth (Daffy Duck voithe)! You're dithpicable!!Speakin' strictly for myself, I'd be more likely to be jealous of a matador who has just received a fatal goring, than from such a source of trickle-down scripted nonsense -at least there is a moment of truth!BTW, there is NO such thing as a "Left Wing Media" (including MSNBC) in this country unless you look hard for "alternative" sources.Even Canada, hardly a lefty stronghold these days, banned "Fix" from their airwaves for blatant lyin'.Nice demonstration of the mindset of blinkered dictates until they have to recognize that their reactionary, medievalist posturing is flawed and failed" I mentioned in my post; thanks for the trite illustration.Quod erat demonstartum.

So there is not any shred of truth in Romneys claim about the 47% according to the Democratic beliefs? So what are the real figures now about those on welfare or public assistance because of true disability or other physical problem and those who could work and choose not to because of entitlements? How many Americans are gainfully employed and paying taxes? I woulld have voted for Obama except for his handling of the Bengahzi Fiasco! The facts are that Obama did not seek to support the middleclass wage earner until Romney made it his mantra. Do not give us this pap of Fox news whippings. Except for internet news, all mainstream news is swept clean of any damning news by the rest of the elite media. Give us the facts and truth, not your opinions so we can make up our own minds! I don't think mainstream media knows how to tell the truth!

But the beauty of Benghazi, according to Fox, I mean the thing that makes it so reprehensible is that nobody really knew about it until AFTER the election so he's L-Y-I-N-G.Plus, do you remember when Romney, on his own, with no tape cutting by any media source, was asked to name the median wage or middle income and instead of $50,000-per-year(the true average) he answered $250,000. Romney wouldn't know the middle class if they shined his boots(which they might in his case, I don't know what he pays his servants).

Romney has said a lot of stupid thing, and flip-flopping things, but I didn't hear about that $250,000 a year one... what a whopper!!! That's several salaries for many people out there. That's why some of the cut-offs for tax-cuts etc. were at $250,000 a year incomes, because very few people earn that much.

Don't tell me about doctors or plumbers; they have creative accountants too.

September 14th, Good Morning America in case you want to see it. Then if you want to see his "clarification"...retraction(?) look up his interview later with George Stephanopolous(jeez I hope I spelled that right, the spelling nazis on this site are crazy!) about what he meant.

Romney made the middleclass wage earner his mantra??? In this universe, or some other? You do realize that his whole program was designed to screw over anyone not in the 1%, don't you, by downgrading the things that stand between the middle class and disaster like Medicare, SS, college education, unemployment insurance, and everything else except the military?

How many of the Americans who don't have jobs are jobless for their own fault? One, maybe two? Did you notice that the present economic situation was caused by the Masters of the Universe, not the poor slob out of a job that went to China or disappeared altogether? Do you have any idea how many people line up when some business announces that it's hiring? If there were jobs available, do you think WalMart could get away with the way it abuses its workforce?

Do you support the Texas republican party's war against critical thinking?

Agree MD - Bunch of thumbs up for Aggie's post. I don't know about the straight face, but then I don't know what people look like after they were sniffing the airplane glue, or drinking the kool aid. Or, who knows what they were into.

One wonders, when the Republicans took away the military support for Consulates, how it was Obama's fault. And when they bring up "Fast and Furious," that was a Bush program that went afoul. When we focus on what Pres. Obama did or did not do, those of us who are Progressives might have liked him to do more, but compared to any Republican his first term was stellar.

Masser; please take a look at legislation Obama proposed from the beginning of his first term. Bengahzi was a terrible event, but not because it was mishandled by Obama--see the first reports from the scene (Richard Engle). CNN is mostly infotainment and some general news, MSNBC has some programs that present well researched news, but it seems that you are stuck in the alternative universe of Fixed Noise where only Shepard Smith tends toward journalism.

Social Security is NOT nor has it ever been an entitlement. SS is insurance for which we have paid the premiums through our paycheck deductions.

In fact it is an entitlement in the literal sense, but not in the bastardized Republican lying definition of the word. You're entitled to it because you paid into it your entire life. A real entitlement is the far too low tax on capital gains, which should be taxed at the highest rate of any taxes unless from starting a business from scratch. Stock market profits shouldn't qualify, nor should any investment that doesn't increase jobs.

No, there is “not any shred of truth” that hordes of people wanting “free stuff,” visions of Obamaphones dancing in their heads, were a significant driver of Obama’s reelection. Fear of the right wing continuing to dismantle all that has made this country “exceptional” was. I wonder how long the righty rank and file will be spouting this trickled-down talking point to attempt to come to grips with the fact that most Americans just don’t like them. As for greedy moochers wanting free stuff, the worst offenders lobbied and, presumably, voted Republican: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/deficit-reduction-council-fiscal-cliff_n_2185585.html

+90% of the main stream media is owned by rupert murdock. Which is why lying is not a big thing with those people.You would NEVER have voted for President Obama so stop giving us stupid/insipid reasons for your republican vote.

The GOP will simply continue marching into oblivion as the base of white voters shrinks. No GOP, the Easter bunny is not real; if you continue to say so and act like it is you simply make yourselves buffoons to be mocked on late night TV and the internet.

Well, the way I see it, RNC with the help of Fox 'News' has guaranteed that Republicans will receive 100% of the 'dodo' vote. The problem with that, is that as a species, the dodo, like the Republican fantasy, 1950's sitcom, view of America, is extinct. (Although 'extinct' might be too favorable a term, as it suggests that at one time that Republican fantasy world existed.) Nonetheless, courting a soon-to-be extinct segment of the U.S. population (angry, old, white men) while antagonizing every other voting bloc, does not bode well for the RNC for future elections. Keep up the good work, Fox 'News'!

Keep digging. Please, please, please keep right on diggin'. Then use shovels on each other WITHOUT making any real sense to the rest of US. Gotta luv Newt, "Rush", phone sex O'Reilly, et al.We should give them KA,OK, Ark, & 1/2 TN. Give other 1/2 back to Native Americans. Then build a wall....

Interesting line of thought. Any reasonable person cannot stand more than a few minutes a day of the Limbaugh lambasting, yet there are obviously enough listeners that still listen to him every day and revere his every word to keep him in business. It looks like he is doing the Democrats a favor!

Nah, but I don't think there are very many people who listen to him; it is all paid advertising, like the home shopping network. Those advertisers almost don't care if there is much of an audience, if they can scare people into submission.

Massager, the 47% consists of everyone on Social Security retirement and/or disability, retired and active duty military, students with Pell grants (which have to be repaid) as well as recipients of welfare. So, a large majority of them are NOT sucking at the government teat and you're believing right wing talking points which are rarely true, and in this case Romney is getting dissed by his own because they know that a large majority of that 47% is from their base, not that of the Democrats.

The red states get far more from the federal government than they send in. It's the blue states that are supporting them. The least you can do is understand that our problems are a direct result of Republican actions.

Massager, the 47% consists of everyone on Social Security retirement and/or disability, retired and active duty military, students with Pell grants (which have to be repaid) as well as recipients of welfare. So, a large majority of them are NOT sucking at the government teat and you're believing right wing talking points which are rarely true, and in this case Romney is getting dissed by his own because they know that a large majority of that 47% is from their base, not that of the Democrats.

The red states get far more from the federal government than they send in. It's the blue states that are supporting them. The least you can do is understand that our problems are a direct result of Republican actions.

And working at WalMart qualifies most of them for food stamps and other government benefits because of the overweening greed of the Walton kids. God! Good ol' Sam Walton must be spinning ion his grave. When he was alive everything in the store was American. Poor guy will never see his kids again, they're all going down instead of up to Heaven.

Doc E.... backup for your claim? Does Faux News give a liberal his own 3 hour show like MSNBC does for Joe Scarborough?

What they do sometimes is bring in some weak kneed supposed liberal nobody ever heard of and beat up on him/her. When MSNBC has conservatives they bring in prominent ones and treat them with respect as they destroy their talking points. They even had Pat Buchanan on staff for years.

Everybody should be required to watch "FRONTLINE Inside the meltdown" a documentary about the events leading to the disasterous economic downfall of 2008. People who complain about Obama not fixing the economy, etc. in four years will begin to remember how bad the state of the economy was under bush. He was an idiot, is still an idiot and will always be an idiot. He couldn't get out of Washington fast enough back then to let somebody try and fix the problems he created. Bear Sterns, Lehmann Bros, AIG, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CountryWide, Washington Mutual, et al. The largest corporations in the world all went under. The country was facing the second DEPRESSION. The stock market was in free fall. Watch the show and it will scare the hell out of you. I know the repugnants will blame everybody but bush the mental midget but we know better.

FWIW, while Bush is and was a witless below average person, it wasn't his fault, per se, it was conservative economics which always causes economic meltdowns. Actually Reagan was more responsible than Bush as he cut the top marginal rate from 74% to 28% which caused an immediate recession which he addressed by raising taxes on the poor and middle class 12 times.

When he asked during the 1984 campaign "Are you better off now than 4 years ago?" and most people agreed with his assessment. However the facts showed the exact opposite. People looked at interest rates and believed. but that was a small part of the problem and trickle down is just the rich pissing down your back.

The economic problems started with Nixon, who destroyed the steel industry in the United States by deregulating it. Immediately steel prices went up, and all big manufacturing stopped buying and bought from Africa. This closed down several midwestern cities, which never recovered.

Carter tried the "wage-price freeze" which hurt those of the baby boom who were just getting out of college: that minimum wage job in the summer became the salary forever if a student found work.

Reagan made it much worse, lifting the regulation on prices, but wages were never raised (except a little percent every year). Reagan also played with that marginal rate as you say, but he union-busted, and also ruined pensions with that 401-K idea. The baby-boom, with flat-lined salaries, then had to put money into their 401K, only to have the money disappear in the crash of (the first idiot Bush's) 1987 stock meltdown, and again in (the second idiot Bush's) 2008 meltdown.

The Republicans, again and again and again, have tried to destroy the middle class. Notice it is white males older than 60 who voted for Romney: anybody a little younger than that was caught by Nixon-Carter-Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush policies, and now has nothing to retire on.

Hey! I'm a white male over 70, and there isn't enough money in the world to pay me to vote for scum like.... well, any Republican running for national office. We do gave a wonderful Republican in Illinois who I vote for, but she's the only one who deserves my vote.

I see progressive hand-wringing about the future of the Republican Party not only on this story but on MSNBC. So the right-wing echo chamber is undermining the Republican Party? So what? As independentmind puts it, "It looks like he is doing the Democrats a favor!"

Why is Boehlert concerned? We should be celebrating this push by Limbaugh, Beck and Fox personalities to push the Republican Party farther and farther out of The Overton Window. Who are we to complain?

Mr. Boehlert, sit back and enjoy the slow demise of the Party of Wall St. I certainly will since this Party refuses to address climate change. They need to fail, over and over and over until the gov't transforms the fossil fuel industry of Rockefeller into a sustainable system that can support civilization and 7 billion people.

I've thought that the 2-Party Electoral College enforced system is the cause: the Dems want to be more right-wing, but they need extremists in the Republican Party to get away with it. If we got rid of the Electoral College and went strictly with popular vote across the country at the same time, we would have more of an opportunity to elect some Greens, and maybe even force a coalition-style government out of the Dems.

Don't forget (and I've stated this before) that Hitler turned on his own general staff, summarily having several of them shot, and finally the German people for letting him down and not fighting hard enough.Sound familiar?My favorite is the "just want stuff" bit! Yeah, like jobs, burgeoning and successful small businesses so people can self-support, feel useful and part of a productive economy. "Stuff", like a home, regulated protection from greedy bankers, slum-lords and brokers, progressive and fair taxation to facilitate more "stuff" like a modern infrastructure, universal health care and good PUBLIC education as human rights, a police force that is part of their neighborhoods instead of a Darth Vader militarized, drone-equipped fink-squad for the wealthy, and and efficient, trimmed-down military instead of a lumbering globally-hated behemoth.Limp-Balls of Clear Channel, "Pill" O'Reilly, Swine Hannity, "Fucker" Carlson and all these well-paid, shiny, gleaming-teethed bimbos so favored by "Fix" seem to think that "stuff" is confined to the cheap trash flogged to an ever-gullible public by Walmart -those very types who watch and believe Muck-doc's fantasy channel and vote Rethug'. This privileged minority of scripted cyphers don't get what "stuff" of substance is. They are doomed to blinkered dictates until they have to recognize that their reactionary, medievalist posturing is flawed and failed, hopefully when it's too late.

I want gas lines that do not explode. I don't want fracking trucks dumping at the side of the road after midnight. I want schools that teach all children, whether they need some help learning or need gifted programs. I want to know that if my husband dies of his cancer, I will have affordable health care for myself, and I won't have to sell my house to be able to live. I want cures for diseases, and that means none of these million dollar "fees" to the FDA by the big pharma companies, but honest research being rewarded and sick people being treated (that's a personal wish: I would like to see some of Burzynski's and other's work available before my husband is too sick to use it). I would like to see better run courts, and that means that they must be funded, so that average people don't have to wait five years for real honest lawsuits; sure the spurious ones will be thrown out, but waiting so long isn't going to help. Etc.

readerz if you have someone with cancer in the family you had better read the globeandmail website because some medical lab has found that an old drug, used for many years for another purpose, kills cancer cells quickly and without side effects. It is very inexpensive also.

"Stuff", like a home, regulated protection from greedy bankers, slum-lords and brokers, progressive and fair taxation to facilitate more "stuff" like a modern infrastructure, universal health care and good PUBLIC education as human rights, a police force that is part of their neighborhoods

THAT says it all, but "they" will never get it cause they believe their own crap.

Did you notice that in most markets liberal shows beat conservative ones. Fox is an exception since they're on basic cable while Current and MSNBC are pay cable, but MSNBC with a small fraction of the Fox cable base often outrates them?

It's also common for conservative corporations to buy stations that have liberal shows to shut them down. The usual result is losing 90% of the ratings, but it's worth it to them to prevent the truth being told.

Obama and the Democratic party didn't do anything magical or mysterious to win. They simply took advantage of Romney's and Fox News' weakness, which was insisting that the Romney view and the Fox News view of America were truthful and valid. For example, when the Romney campaign started spreading the lie that Jeeps were going to be made in China, a lie to frighten Ohio auto workers, the Democrats told the truth, loud and clear. The auto works knew what the truth was, and Fox and Romney were caught with their pants down around their ankles. Then Fox and Romney spread the mythology about the 47 % being the unproductive "takers," and all of us of the 47% (I'm a veteran who paid into Social Security for almost 50 years so I guess I'm a "taker") not only saw the lie in Fox News and Romney, but were highly insulted by it. When you're going up against liars as severely delusional as Fox News and the Romney wing of the Republican party, it's not hard to catch them in lies. If they don't get even a little bit smarter, they're doomed, and hooray for our side.

To say that the GOP had a Romney problem is laughable. It's the other way around: Romney actually had three problems: 1) a GOP problem; 2) a Fox "news" problem; and 3) a Romney problem. He was his own worst enemy in this election because he allied himself with our worst enemies, namely the greed is good plutocracy.

I think his "Romney problem" is how out of touch he is because of his wealth and continuing NON-BLIND investments in over-seas business and outsourcing. He should have been convicted of a felony for his recent antics.

What Varney and the rest of the Rethuglicons never seem to realize is that We the People would rather have "gifts" of OUR money than endless and incessant war with OUR money. It should be Box News bc they never get outside their own echo chamber.

the biggest problem the pachy party has are the head-in-the-sand teabaggers and "what is good for old white men is good for the country" reactionaries. it's time for them to get what's ailing the u.s.of a. is not the suppression of vulture crapitalism but the vultures themselves. the majority of americans don't worship at the alter of the koch brothers. and every president since and including ronald reagan has increased the size of the federal government. this is a different country than it was in 1776. it's time for them to get with the 21st century and stop longing for the days when jesus supposedly walked the earth...and/or john d. rockefeller was handing out dimes to poor children.

Unless the Republican party of UNREASON, science denying moronic idiocy boots out the ladies (and men) with hats of hanging tea bags, they are a DEAD party and that is GREAT news for those who loathe absolutely EVERYTHING there is to loathe about Republicans!

The left cannot talk to the right and the right cannot talk to the left since each have agendas which are different. Save your breath and do not talk to the other side. The whole issue is in the demographics of the country which are on the side of the Dems. The angry white males will be dying at a rate of 5000 per day and the hispanic votes will continue to grow. We need to work with those who can be persuaded to vote as Dems and forget those who have been lock into their point of view by Fox News. Let the Republicans attempt to build a party based upon angry old white males. Good luck Republicans with that plan.

The makers v. takers line and these attacks on Obama giving gifts is not about growing audience share and in the end they're not actually about Obama or Romney. They are about attacking the idea of the government having any role in supporting the lives of everyday people. They're about continuing to shift the frame and about the transformation of the government to go to the next level of support for corporations and the 1%. In fact, this is what the whole Republican campaign was about--win or lose. The republicans don't have to win elections to get their (and the Dems) corporate agenda to win. And ultimately, the 1% has won, and Obama is playing his role perfectly--even more effectively than Romney could have. He TALKS occasionally and quite superficially slightly left of center socially and then WALKS with full force and full speed to the right economically, militarily, surveillance-wise, etc.

I pray I'm wrong, but I honestly feel we've elected the more effective of the two evils... I hope the next four years do not go as badly as I fear they will. But we have a role in that; please don't wait for the next election; get involved in some local grassroots campaign for change; and get organized.

The short take is that most of the folks on the far right (do you know one on facebook?)are demented. They believe the "47% don't pay taxes" crap because they have never heard of property tax, road tax, sales tax, and all the other taxes everyone pays. ???Check that: Actually they do know, but they are all disengenous, congenital liars with a belief in their own racial superiority due to having inherited big money. Romney's campaign simply confirmed the utter stupidity and greed of the inheriting class...

The short take is that most of the folks on the far right (do you know one on facebook?)are demented. They believe the "47% don't pay taxes" crap because they have never heard of property tax, road tax, sales tax, and all the other taxes everyone pays. ???Check that: Actually they do know, but they are all disengenous, congenital liars with a belief in their own racial superiority due to having inherited big money. Romney's campaign simply confirmed the utter stupidity and greed of the inheriting class...

Well to tell you the truth I prefer that they leave things as they are. The more Faux "News" talks ignorance the less chance the regressive party has of winning an election. I say let's keep it that way.

Wow. Lots of great commentary here. I hadn't heard it put into words yet -- what the "Talkies and Fox "News" are doing to undermine the Republican Party..advertantly or not... Thanks for this! I've been blogging on the subject of "talk-agenda-'news'- for a few years now. Please visit: www.dearpundit.com

Fox News is not. It is a propaganda channel set up for the plutocrats. It's intent is to trick the angry, unthinking masses into voting against their interests. Just play to their feelings of inadequacy. Incite them by appealing to envy, jealousy, bigotry, prejudice, hatred and a of other negative emotions.

It should be illegal to use the public airways to spread lies. Some people even believe it should be illegal for our elected representatives to knowingly lie. But then 70% of our Congressmen are lawyers aren't they. Looks rigged doesn't it.

"....It should be illegal to use the public airways to spread lies...."

I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I can't think of a better "cause" to champion than the reform of our broadcast media "freedoms". It's a cliche' but it's true; Freedom of speech does not extend to the limit of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater. And propaganda is and always has been an effective "weapon" that is used in war.

By allowing a well funded, broad reaching, media system, to nest lies and propaganda amidst their "entertainment" programming, America has enabled it's own undoing and demise.

For people to vote responsibly, they need true information and they need a good education. Both of these are paramount to maintaining a civil, advanced society. Enable propaganda and you might as well just say "yes" to a dictatorship.

Is there any chance that a law could be passed and enforced to penalize, with broadcast license revocation, fines and jail time, anyone using the public airwaves to broadcast "provable lies" to the public? I'd sure like to see that. Of course, they could always make sure that "entertainment" folks can still do their thing with a clear disclaimer showed at the start of each broadcast and at the beginning of each statement. As in, Jon Stewart saying "now clearly this is just a joke for entertainment purposes but..."

Fox was created because controversy sells and still sells. It will still flourish. What is hard to believe is that there are that many old retired white guys sitting around watching for hours a day. Very pathetic lives, I think. The younger world is passing them by...

What, no one liked my post? Seems like no one but a Democrat can have an opinion on this article. Not one of you know me personally, yet many of you made your comments a personal attack on my integrity and my sanity! YES! The facts about Benghazi did make a difference to me and my vote. Because he is a Democrat, no matter how many people have been killed under his watch you accuse me of being a Republican based on my opinion. I would not claim to be a Democrat or Republican. Neither party really speaks for the people of America. He promised an end to the war, and yet he has escalated it now to Drone attacks on helpless individuals. He knew that Benghazi would be a target on 9-11 from intelligence provided to him and yet he provided no protection and Ambassador Stevens and other Americans were horrible raped and then murdered. And I do not listen to Fox or other talk show drivel. I do read Reader Supported News and other Internet patriots who are of neither party who call forth the truth that mainstream media does not.

Your previous post mainly emphasized that Romney's claims about the 47% are true. Dismissing the working poor and millions of retirees as a bunch of lazy slackers. It's right out of the Tea Party handbook. Now you're acting like a victim because you got so many thumbs down. Grow up and take some personal responsibility.

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